UP horror: Six-year-old gang-raped, killed in Kanpur; lungs removed for alleged occult ritual

A six-year-old girl on Monday was found dead in a forested area in Uttar Pradesh's Bhadras village in Ghatampur after she was gang-raped and killed. What's more gruesome is that the victim's lungs were taken out of the corpse by the killers, PTI reported.

The girl's father alleged that his daughter had been killed for some occult practices. Both her lungs are missing.

The police, however, said that the girl could have been mauled by some wild animal.

Forensic experts and sniffer dogs were pressed into service to gather scientific evidence to confirm if the girl was killed in an act of black magic. SP (Rural) Brijesh Srivastava said that the child's body was sent for post mortem.

"The police are investigating the case from all angles and the culprit will not be spared," he said.

The girl had gone missing on the night of Diwali from the Ghatampur area. The killers -- Ankul Kuril (20) and Beeran (31) -- who were arrested on Sunday, had removed her lungs and delivered those to key conspirator Parshuram Kuril to perform black magic, PTI quoted ASP (Rural) Brajesh Srivastava as saying.

A complaint was registered by the family members of the six-year-old girl after her sudden disappearance on Diwali night.

Uttar Pradesh's Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya took cognizance of the murder and said that strict action will be taken in the matter.

"Strict action will be taken against the culprits. Instructed the police to get to the bottom of the case. Strict legal action will be taken after finding the guilty," Maurya said.  

कानपुर में 6 साल की मासूम की निर्ममता से हत्या हृदय विदारक है एक एक दोषी का पता करके कठोरतम क़ानूनी कार्रवाई बिना देर किए सुनिश्चित की जाए का निर्देश दिया है ऐसा जघन्य अपराध करने वाले मनुष्य नहीं हिंसक पशु जैसे हैं

— Keshav Prasad Maurya (@kpmaurya1) November 15, 2020

Agitated villagers were present at the spot from where the girl's body was recovered. "We have detained a few suspects named by the family and their interrogation is going on. We're looking at this case from every possible angle," ANI quoted Preetinder Singh, Deputy Inspector General Kanpur as saying.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken note of the heinous crime and directed officials to take strict action against the accused.

He has also directed the officials to extend a financial help of Rs five lakh to the victim's family.

मुख्यमंत्री जी ने शोक संतप्त परिजनों के प्रति गहरी संवेदना व्यक्त करते हुए ₹05 लाख की आर्थिक सहायता दिए जाने के निर्देश दिए हैं। उन्होंने कहा है कि प्रदेश सरकार प्रकरण की फास्ट ट्रैक कोर्ट में सुनवाई कराकर अपराधियों को जल्द से जल्द सजा दिलाएगी।

— CM Office, GoUP (@CMOfficeUP) November 15, 2020

The chief minister has said the case would be heard in a fast-track court so that the accused are punished at the earliest.